Turtle Spotters making sacrifices for conservation

A Green Turtle, another of Cayman’s native sea
Turtles UCF Photo

A loggerhead turtle, a species struggling to survive
here

Local volunteers Gary and Kathryn Redfern and Deanna
Chelton-Jones and her faithful companion Bali
devotedly rise before dawn, four days a week, to look
for turtle nests and hatchlings.

Committed to the preservation of sea turtles for
future generations, overseas volunteers Genna Baidos
(US), Fabienne Noll (Switzerland), Dan Bergom (US) and
Karin Jones (US) spent several weeks walking the
Islands’ beaches.

Tuesday,  August 30, 2005

With mosquitoes, sand flies and gnats for company, Cayman’s turtle spotting volunteers are currently walking the beaches at the crack of dawn looking for the tell tale tracks that lead to nests filled with precious turtle eggs.

Once found, the nests are not physically marked to prevent poaching. Instead the Department of Environment note the locations to be guarded until the eggs hatch, and the little ones find their way into the ocean.

Some excursions don’t yield finds, but volunteers keep going throughout May and October, scanning the white sands for nesting activity, sacrificing their morning lie-in.

“Our sea turtles need all the help they can get,” said Joni Solomon, research officer and coordinator of the Department of Environment’s (DoE) Marine Turtle Beach Monitoring Programme (MTBMP), explaining why she and her fellow volunteers make the sacrifice.

“They are an endangered species and with continued development and subsequent loss of unspoilt beaches, we need to help the turtles protect what little nesting areas they have left.”

The programme, started in 1998 in Little Cayman, relies heavily on the commitment of resident as well as overseas volunteers. The department posts volunteer positions on the sea turtle conservation website, www.seaturtle.org , inviting people to come down to the Cayman Islands to assist.

There is no compensation and applicants must pay for their own travel, food and accommodations. Once the applications are submitted to the DoE, successful applicants are contacted and arrangements are made for them to come to Cayman.

“It is heartening to see that the plight of the sea turtles is one that is shared worldwide,” added Ms Solomon.

“For the past several years we have had volunteers from as far away as Japan, joining local volunteers in the effort to preserve Cayman’s scarce turtle species.

“The overseas volunteers are motivated by the same reasons that make our committed local volunteers and DoE staff members get up early morning after morning – to protect and better understand the mysterious sea turtles of the Cayman Islands,” she said.

Although volunteers mainly walk the beaches on Grand Cayman during the day, several also take part in the night-time monitoring when nesting turtles are tagged with satellite trackers so conservationists can track their journeys once they return to the sea. This satellite tracking programme can be viewed at www.seaturtle.org/tracking/Cayman .

This country was once the largest nesting area for green sea turtles in the Caribbean. Today, because of over-fishing and development, nesting numbers have drastically been reduced.

However, the good news is that this year, nesting numbers are up from last year for the two species of sea turtle, green and loggerhead, that still actively nest in Grand Cayman.

“Unfortunately though, the total number of nests in Cayman Brac and Little Cayman has remained low,” said Ms Solomon.

“The poaching of eggs and nesting females is still a problem in all three islands and greatly threatens the local nesting population.”

The public is encouraged to contact DoE at 949-8469 or 926-6147 in Grand Cayman, or 926-0136 in Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, if they see signs of nesting or spot hatchlings (baby turtles).

“We remind the public that hatchlings are emerging from nests right now so it’s important for lights to be kept off the beach at night and that vehicles not be driven on the beach at all. It is a criminal offence to take or hurt sea turtles or eggs and people should report any such actions to us or to 911,” concluded Ms Solomon.

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